Ebook: Species of Mind: The Philosophy and Biology of Cognitive Ethology

Starting from the concept of biological continuity Allen and Bekoff argue that "lower" animals may be intelligent too. One might distinguish a variety of intelligences including: i. purely reactive (reflex, radical behaviorist, table lookup) learning by evolutionary change only (learning being radically separated from performance system) ii. finite state machines (modifiable memory, possibly with explicit world model/representation, possibly with a time sense) iii. cooperative/social (communicative, specialists, language users) iv. conscious (self monitoring and self modifying, possibly explicit representation of goals, possible utility/value model with possible value change), etc. Allen and Bekoff note that "'lower' animals can outperform 'higher' animals on some cognitive tasks", what constitutes superior intelligence depends upon the niche that the animal occupies, it is not universal. I especially liked the chapter on consciousness which the authors relate to the capacity to detect misinformation and illusion.